10/31/11

P.S. I had such a great time serving up vegan Halloween treats at Lululemonyesterday!!! Big thanks to everyone who came out to say hi!! I'll have pictures and the much anticipated recipe for Vegan Peanut Butter Cups up tomorrow.

10/28/11

Oh, Veggies, if you could see my computer. I've been sitting here for over an hour (hmmm…more like 3 days) trying to write your Budget Detox. After starting eight different versions, three separate shopping lists and procrastinating on Facebook** twice (maybe more than twice...) I have come to the conclusion that this topic is much larger than one post. Therefore I have decided that I'm going to write you a bunch of posts. Yippee!!! Yay for posts!!! So, where should we start???

You want to detox. You want to do it on the cheap. Well, then let's start with the principle of Occam's Razor that generally recommends when selecting among competing hypotheses the one that makes the fewest new assumptions is correct. In other words…the simplest answer is the right answer. Let's keep it simple...

10/24/11

It was a cool, cloudy day in LA**, so I decided to curl up with a cozy cup of tea and my nutrition books. I was fixin' to get a move on some good 'ole fashioned blog work. A couple of hours in I was feeling equal parts peckish and lazy. I wandered over to the kitchen to see what I could rustle up. Pickins was slim. (It occurs to me that I am inadvertently writing this with what appears to be some sort of western accent.) All we's had in the mess (now I'm doing it on purpose…) was apples, frozen blueberries and halloween candy. (Thanks, Mom.) What's a lass to do??? Well, this lass made blueberry applesauce.

10/21/11

Good Friday, Veggies. Sorry for the radio silence of late (would it be called blog silence???). John and I have had family in town, so I've been taking a (much needed) technological break. We've been seeing the sites, spending time outdoors and trying to squeeze in as much giggling as time will allow. Since I have a few minutes to myself this morning, I thought I'd give you the Cliffs Notes version of the week's events.

The past couple of days, I haven't been sticking to the detox. And I don't care. And you can't make me care. We've been having too much fun for me to be worrying about what I should or shouldn't be eating. So call the gluten police. I plead guilty and have no remorse.

This didn't stop me from spending $92.43 on juice yesterday. Apparently when it comes to fresh juice I am careless spendthrift who holds no regard for things like my debt to income ratio. I see brightly colored juice in bottles and turn into a crazed hoarder. I guess there are worse vices.

I know that I still owe you the Budget Detox post. I also know that it won't be finished until next week. Your patience is greatly appreciated.

True Food Kitchen is my new favorite restaurant. This restaurant deserves a post unto itself (which I will give it), but for now I'll just say this…on second thought…I have no words. Pictures are below. It was unreal. Go. Now. (Also, according to my nephew, they have "the coolest bathroom" he's ever seen.)

I broke my self imposed ban on buying any more workout videos and bought this one and this one. My justification for this is that Erin and I are testing out a 30 minute workout theory and these videos are part of the research. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. In unrelated news, I had a dream last night that Tracy Anderson told me I need to work on my butt.

10/18/11

Still wondering why any sane person would even consider doing a detox when there are so many more interesting things to do like…bludgeoning oneself with something heavy??? Well, put down that brick and have a gander at this. In the video below the incomparable Natalia Rose (her name is Natalia even though the video title says Natalie...) gives the whats, whys and hows of all things detox. I can not wait for her new course PhDetox at the end of the month!! I will be there with pencils sharpened and green juice in hand.

10/14/11

Happy Friday, Veggies!!! For those of you playing our home game, today marks Day 5 of Fall Detox 2011. Since Monday I have been juicing during the day and then having a hearty vegan meal for dinner. Even though this week was really busy, I found that juicing was surprisingly easy to stick to. This was due in part to the discovery that Earth Bar, one of my favorite places to get fresh juice, now sells juice in prepackaged bottles!

I bought three days worth, so I would have them all ready to go whenever I wanted one. The cost of the juice broke down to about $30 a day. That's a little steep but, for me, the convenience was worth the price. Besides, a lot of the popular juice cleanses charge up to $80 a day, so I felt like I was getting a deal.

HOWEVER (big however), do not get discouraged if that is out of your budget or you don't live near a fresh juice bar. Next week I am going to cover some cheap and easy ways to get your detox on without having to sell off all of your belongings. Until then, here is my food plan from the beginning of the week. Let me know if you have any questions!

10/5/11

As we ease intothis detox, I am going to ask you right here, right now to make one permanent change. It is a change that can forever alter your course on the road to health. If you do nothing else but change this one itty-bitty thing you will see huge results. Are you ready??? Here it goes…the change to change all changes is this:

Stop calling food "bad."

As in, "Oooh, I was bad last night. I had two cupcakes." As in, "Let's be bad! Let's get chicken wings." As in, you are stare at your menu for a small eternity, send the waiter away multiple times and finally after you survey everyone else at the table to find out what they are going to order, you resolutely declare,"Screw it! I'm gonna be bad!"

Oh, you are? You are going to be bad? Are you going to have unprotected sex with the busboy and then stab me with your steak knife??? No?? You're ordering onion rings?? Ok, then. You are not being bad. You are just ordering onion rings.

The minute we assign a moral quality to food we are in trouble for two reasons:

Upon labeling a food "bad", your inner preacher's daughter will immediately find said food irresistible in a "your-not-from-around-here-are-you-take-me-out-on-your-motorcycle-and-show-me-the-ways-of-boys-from-the-city" kind of way. Those foods will all of a sudden have a false appeal simply because they are considered more "fun."

Words have power. When you call a food that you eat "bad", you are subconsciously labeling yourself "bad" as well.

There are foods that are better for your body than others. There are foods that are better for the planet than others. There are foods that give health and there are those that take it all away. However, the decision to eat positive, life giving food has to come from a grounded love of how that food makes you feel. We can not shame ourselves into eating in a healthy way. We must choose vigor because it feels gloriously, indulgently, wonderfully pleasurable to do so. Anything else is simply an attempt to shackle yourself in a prison of health. All things shackled, even if shackled with the best of intentions, will eventually try to break free. Give yourself freedom to begin with and trust that you will choose health, not because you are supposed to, but because it is your luxurious gift to do so. Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it???

10/3/11

Without further ado…I present to you…Fall Detox 2011!!! (I tried to come up with a catchy title like this one, but nothing stuck...)Specifics will follow, but the gist of my plan is this:

The NO's:

Gluten

Soy

Dairy

Sugar

Alcohol

Meat

Eggs

Corn

Coffee

Sheesh. When you put all that stuff up there in one lump, it makes this seems like a positively irrational idea. Oh, well. Too late to back out now...

I will be modeling this detox on Natalia Rose's book Detox 4 Women. If you are really interested in improving your health, I can not recommend this book enough. When Erinand I did Natalia'sRaw Food Detox Diet a few years back, we both agreed that it was the best we've ever felt…ever. Natalia's philosophy forever changed the way that I approach eating and nutrition. Now, don't let the title fool you. There is nothing "girly" about this book. The fundamentals work just as well for men as they do for women. It is a four week plan, but I'll be using this week as my transition week. It is always a good idea to give yourself a week to prep rather than diving straight into a detox. Doing that will cut down on a lot of the detox symptoms that can occur when embarking on a new way of eating. I will use this week to do my food shopping, quit coffee, eliminate the "foods" listed above and generally get all my vegetables in a row before the hard core juicing starts on Monday October, 10th. Here's my shopping list, Veggies. Let me know if you have any questions!

10/1/11

Sorry, Veggies. I won't be done with that until later tonight. In the meantime, please amuse yourself with this lovely recipe for kale salad. This salad is going to be one of my go to meals for the detox. Even people who don't like kale (I'm looking at you John…) like this recipe. The biggest complaint that I hear about kale is that it is bitter and tough. The sweetness of the honey used in this recipe (agave can be used as a substitute) does a nice job of balancing out any tartness. Also, the act of massaging the kale makes it soft and palatable. Aartiputs mango and toasted pumpkin seeds in her salad. I put dried cranberries and sesame seeds in mine. Feel free to experiment. Raisins would be delicious. So would tomatoes with chopped onion and walnuts. Because the kale doesn't get soggy, this is a great salad to make if you have to prep it a while before you are going to be eating it. It even keeps overnight! Enjoy!

Directions1. In large serving bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt. Massage until the kale starts to soften and wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside while you make the dressing.

2. In a small bowl, whisk remaining lemon juice with the honey and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stream in the 1/4 cup of oil while whisking until a dressing forms, and you like how it tastes.

3. Pour the dressing over the kale, and add the mango and pepitas. Toss and serve.